It is common practice for issuers of financial transaction cards, such as credits cards, to host associated rewards programs that may provide cash back, air miles, redeemable points, or other such value to a customer based on the customer's use of the card. For example, a credit card may offer 1% cash back on every purchase made using the card, which may accrue over time and may be redeemed by the customer in the form of a check, a deposit or a credit to an account balance. Some credit card issuers may offer tiered rewards or rewards that are tied to specific merchants or types of merchants. For example, a credit card may offer 1% cashback on general purchases, but 3% cash back for purchases made a grocery stores and gas stations. Some credit cards may have rewards programs in which the rewards change over time, by for example, in addition to offering 1% back on all purchases generally, offering 5% cash back on purchases made a gas stations during a first specified calendar period and then upon entering a second specified calendar period the 5% cash back may change such that it is now awarded in association with purchases made a movie theaters (and no longer gas stations). Credit card issuers generally offer such rewards programs in an attempt to both gain and retain customer use of a particular card. Accordingly, there is a significant amount of competition between card issuers to entice customers to enroll and use their credit cards.
Although there is significant competition to obtain and retain such credit card customers, some customers may be more desirable to obtain and retain than others. For example, factors such as the frequency and/or amount of a customer's purchases, the types of merchants a customer typically frequents, and the amount (if any) of a balance a customer carries on their account from month to month may all impact a card issuer's fees obtained from use of the card. In some instances, card issuers may have different arrangements with different merchants such that a card issuer may receive greater fees per dollar spent at one type of merchant versus another type of merchant. Therefore, it may be beneficial for a card issuer to be able to offer personalized rewards to individual customers based on the customer's past financial behavior. Furthermore, because many customers may have multiple credit cards with differing rewards programs, it may also be beneficial for a card issuer to be able to offer customized rewards based on individual purchases at particular merchants to entice a customer to use their card versus the card of a competitor on a particular purchase. Moreover, in a case where a customer has multiple credit cards with differing rewards programs, it may be beneficial to a customer to allow the customer to receive customized rewards offers from multiple card issuers in association with a purchase so that the customer may maximize their preferred rewards returns.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods to allow financial transaction card issuers to offer customized rewards to an individual on a purchase by purchase basis. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to this and other considerations.